Warriors trying to stay in game shape

The Hawai’i basketball team has only one weekend without any games this entire season. This is it.

To make up for it, the Warriors conducted an intrasquad “situational scrimmage” on Saturday afternoon. In particular, they worked on late-game situations, playing with a lead in the second half, and defending fast breaks.

“With us having 9, 10 days in between, I wanted to get a little bit of a game-like situation,” head coach Gib Arnold said. “You normally would play a Saturday game, so I wanted to keep our game legs.”

The current 10-day break between games is the longest break of the season for the Warriors. Their next game is scheduled for Saturday, December 1, at No. 18 UNLV.

The Warriors are 4-1, but have found ways to make the second half of the games exciting by allowing the opponents to get close. It has cost them only once — Illinois rallied from a 13-point halftime deficit to hand Hawai’i its only defeat.

“We were ahead in all of our games, we just have to finish them and seal the deal,” junior forward Christian Standhardinger said. “That is what we will keep working on and I think we will get better.”

During one part of the scrimmage, Arnold stopped the action to explain that patience can be a key teammate when playing with a double-digit lead.

To make the scrimmage even more meaningful, Arnold started it after the team went through two tough hours of practice. “We wanted to scrimmage at the end when our legs were a little tired, but still be mentally and physically strong,” Arnold said. “I thought the guys did a good job.”

The scout team of Keith Shamburger, Dyrbe Enos, Michael Harper, Aaron Valdes and Caleb Dressler formed the “opponent” for the scrimmage. All the other players rotated on the “Hawaii” team, with Arnold in control of the substitutions.

“You always want to stay in game shape,” Standhardinger said. “I think we got a lot better today in practice and in the scrimmage.”

The scout team did its part, running-and-gunning at every opportunity. “We have a real good scout team with Keith Shamburger being as good a guard as any guard we’ll see this year running that,” Arnold said.

Shamburger said: “Days like this we want to beat them. We know who they have coming up. They have UNLV coming up, that’s a ranked team … we have to give them all we got so they can get ready for UNLV.”

Arnold said the scrimmage was still part of a self-improvement process for the Warriors, and the game plan for UNLV will be implemented in the coming days.

16 Comments

Dayton, again , real time, up to date coverage of UH MBB, everything we want to know..it is like UH BB heaven!

Great to see guys trying to stay in shape…key game against UNLV, have to have good showing..I would think stay within 12 -13 pts..if can squeeze out win, Dynamite..great boost ..if not, keep game very competitive, like Oregon and Iowa St did on UNLV’s home floor!

Keep on working UH MBB team..fans love your effort..and a special thanks to Gib and staff, and Gib’s loving family and Benjy, Brandyn, Scott Fisher’s , and Chris’ families and ohana,…you all have put together a PROGRAM..going in right direction Gib..and , myself as a fan of UH MBB since 1966…just love it!!

Go Rainbow Warriors…! Got get em in Las Vegas..play your hearts out…should have a contingent of Hawaii fans up there in the 9th Hawaiian Island!!! All in , All Together, All Winners!!

And AV , shout to you… keep working hard in practice..your D could really help, who knows when get call, if not, build up yourself do well and school and have a awesome 2013-14 season( or 2012-13?)

‘Bows/Warriors Keep Building — This IS Like a Second Pre-Season/Break —

UNLV May Be ‘Arrogant’ or More Concerned with their own game and Consistency (Like Us)…
BUT What they see when UH hits their court could be entirely different (IF they studied UH Videos)
Week and a half of adding O Schemes, Tuning Up Weaknesses in O&D Execution…
As smart a team as UH seems (is), UNLV (Like Illinois) could be in for a Surprise…

Wow! Keith Shamburger is a very good point guard! He running scout, help MBB team active players..get ready..Harper, Valdes, Enos, and Dressler..they go hard on starters and key reserves…and try to win the scrimmages, will only help team get better,…if scout, not too good..and not pushing hard, and being physical agressigve, quick, it wouldn’t help team…good job scout team..if UH MBB team has a good year..Gib should give a special award, a little Scout Championship, trophy to those special RS’s and reserves for helping team have a good showing this year..

One thing,..Garrett, Jace and whole team..other teams will start to foul you guys, and in last 5 min, if close game, or trying to catch up or hold other team down,, have to hit FT’s, ..from player 1 through 12, ..all , every man has to hit 70% or better of FT’s from first minute of game till the last minute..could mean a difference of several wins or losses..

Just an observation..we know you guys go hard..and are physical..just got to tighten up FT shooting, handling pressure from other teams..REBOUND..and win….Hey..only going into 6th game of season..have a good showing at UNLV.even if loss(hope not), be competitive and keep it close, no blowouts,…loss by 10 pts or less , better than a loss of 18 to 25 pts..a Win on the road…well, that would put UH MBB, probably on the “others receiving votes” for top 25 poll!!

It certainly is tough going Eastward. But, I’m glad the team can focus solely on one game.

On an interesting note, UNLV will sometimes use a big lineup with their all-conference PF (Mike Moser) at the 3 spot. And after watching this video, it looks like Hawaii may very well counter it with Isaac and Christian in the same lineup with Vander, which moves Hauns up to the 2. We’ve seen this lineup a few times this year, but I think it may work well against bigger teams.

It’s also good to see that the team is working on late game situations (especially with a lead) and breaking the press.

Hope the team travels to UNLV at least 3 days before play so they can rest up. I would think having 10 days off between games you would want to travel early and set up both physically and mentally. If Hawaii wants to beat them they gotta have fresh legs and no signs of jet lag.

UNLV is now ranked #24 in the AP and #20 in the Coaches poll. Illinois is ranked #22 in both. Not that much respect especially when they squeaked by Gardner Webb. If Bows beat Vegas they should get some votes. Lots of surprising games already, bordering on shocking.

I got to watch the last couple of UNLV games… They have superior athletes and speed, BUT they have some serious weaknesses.

UNLV does not have a true PG. A. Marshall is a 2 guard playing point and still isn’t comfortable getting shots for other people. UNLV likes to run and gun, but often show poor shot selection. They take a ton of contested jumpers and like years past, are very streaky. UH must force UNLV into contested jumpers and get Reinhardt and the other shooters to move off their spots on the 3-point line.

The freshman Reinhardt is an sharpshooter with great range, but he is not good with on ball defense. Gib needs to get Spearman matched up on Reinhardt and Spearman will blow by him.

UNLV, at this point in the season, is not good at help defense and rotations. If they allow penetration, the forwards have been slow to help. I’m sure UNLV will be working on this but if UH can penetrate, it will open up the 3 point line and mid range jumpers.

The super recruit Bennett is an absolute beast on offense and the boards, but is still raw defensively. Vander should be able to score on him, but Vander needs to stay out of foul trouble.

UNLV employs an intense man pressure and tries to force turnovers to speed up the tempo of the game. The key for UH is ball security and if Tavita & Spearman can avoid unforced turnovers. UNLV will surely force some turnovers, but UH cannot have the sloppy turnovers like what they’ve been doing the first 5 games.

UNLV will test their bigs against our bigs. Ya clash of the Titans. I think both sides will have same strategy—dare each other to shoot from the outside. Whoever is successful will have the upper edge in the game as they will be able to play their inside game most effectively.